Amish America

Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive

My book is now available for pre-order on Amazon! 

Success Made Simple is the first practical business guide based on Amish ideas. 

9,000 Amish businesses thrive throughout North America.  This book examines why, and what lessons they can offer modern business owners.

It reads a bit like this blog does, chock full of anecdotes, stories, and 16 sidebars covering everything from the 'Amish miracle heater' to why you'll find 47 David Yoders in one community. 

I appear throughout as a supporting character, but the 60 Amish contributors, from homebuilders to accountants to furniture craftsmen and a buggy maker, are the focus. 

Amish share ideas on management, marketing, efficiency, and keeping focus on big picture ideas such as family and community.  Donald Kraybill has kindly written a nice foreword.

And, there's a lot of Amish dialogue.  Humorous, insightful, straight-shooting. 

The half-dozen Amish friends and acquaintances who have read it already have given reviews ranging from 'rock solid' to 'rave' (if I can be so un-humble as to describe them in such un-Amish terms). 

Ditto non-Amish who've previewed it-and what's been surprising, and pleasing-that includes both business owners and non-business types. 

And, I received only minor Amish scolding for a handful of early-draft errors, so I think I've managed to keep myself out of trouble here!

Amish-owned Solar and lighting shop, Holmes County, Ohio

I'll be posting more later, but if you'd like to guarantee a copy (and get me some brownie points with my publisher[!]), check out the pre-ordering option on Amazon (you're also guaranteed the lowest price, should it drop between now and release on March 22, 2010).

I've also just noticed Amazon has slashed the price 34%-over 8 bucks off the cover price-so if you're planning to, now may be a good time to pick it up cheap. 

And if you order through the blog by simply clicking on this Amazon Associates link to access Amazon, that helps me out even more (same price for you either way).

Regardless whether you are a business owner, interested in entrepreneurship, or not so much, I think you'll really enjoy this book. It was a lot of work, and a bit of an adventure, to research and write it over the past three years.

And let me just say, I more than appreciate your support.  This blog is a labor of love-and a lot of fun-but without you to read it and interact with, it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable.

David Kline's October

Ohio Amish bishop David Kline is an interesting person.  I've known David for a couple of years and fondly recall my last visit to his Ohio farm, and specifically some warm muffins and warmer companionship at the kitchen table.  David is also unusual as an Amish person in that he is a twice-published author.  

David's descriptions of wildlife, farming, and rural living in Great Possessions and Scratching the Woodchuck make for rejuvenating reading.  His books are informative field manuals, Thoreau-esque musings on nature, and a bit of balm for the displaced country soul.  Here's an excerpt from David's first book, Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer's Journal, titled "October".

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There is something about October that no other month can match.   The brilliant colors of the hardwoods, the crisp morning air spiked with a faint tinge of skunk, the clear skies laced with a few cumulus clouds drifting lazily across it--all these spell October.

Along with October comes a certain sadness because the spring we so eagerly awaited has passed, and so has the summer;  now we realize that winter is waiting in the wings.  However, this melancholy is soon overwhelmed by the spell of the season as we gather walnuts, hickory nuts, and chestnuts, and hustle to get the corn cribbed.

Though we regret the passing of summer, the time does arrive when we look forward to a killing frost so that we can cease our battles with the lamb's-quarters, pigweeds, and purslane, and hang up our hoes for the year.  Most gardeners probably reach this point sometime during the fall.  In a few months the new seed catalogs will be arriving in the mail, and our struggles with the weeds will be forgotten.  Resolutions will be made to start the melons earlier, and maybe set out the Siberian tomatoes a week sooner so that we'll have ripe tomatoes by the fourth of July.

For the small-scale dairy farmer, October is almost perfect.  The cool nights have eliminated the bothersome flies, and the cows, content on legume pastures, have a desire to produce large quantities of milk.

Along about the middle of the month we hear a sound that we've been waiting for--the quacking and gabbling of migrating ducks and geese.  Every autumn since 1975 hundreds and often thousands of migrating waterfowl visit our pond, Levi D. Miller's, and some other ponds in the area, and linger, feeding on waste grain in the picked cornfields until snow and cold weather in late November drive them farther south.  Though primarily mallards, there are also a considerable number of black ducks, American wigeons, and pintails, and a lesser number of blue- and green-winged teal, shovelers, wood ducks, lesser scaups, and coots.

We have often wondered why these thousands of wild ducks, especially the wary black ducks, come to these small farm ponds, as you could say, in the middle of nowhere.

There may be several reasons.  One, the forty-five-hundred acre Killbuck Wildlife Area, the largest inland area of swamp and marshland in Ohio, is only ten miles west of our farm.  This "wasteland" was privately owned until around twelve years ago when the state began buying it.  As the land was purchased, it was opened for public hunting, and then, because of the heavy hunting pressure, the ducks were forced to seek sanctuary elsewhere.

A second reason is that in the early seventies we had some semi-wild mallards on our pond and, after several years of good hatches, we were overstocked.  So a friend and I live-trapped thirty-five and released them in the Killbuck marshes.  A farmer from that area, who was with us when we turned the ducks loose, told me later than many of the ducks were shot soon afterward by poachers.  Could some of these mallards have survived and then, in the following fall, shown their wild kin the way to our farm for food and protection?

The first ducks begin coming in to the pond the day the duck season opens. For some reason they do not stay on the pond at night, except occasionally during a full moon, but prefer to return to the marshes.  They leave the pond about a half hour before dark and return in the morning just after daybreak.  Thus their departure and arrival from the marshes are after and before legal shooting hours.  And to think that some people call them dumb ducks.

We very seldom feed the ducks because we want them to retain their wild ways, and besides, we like to see them fly.  As someone said, "one duck flying is worth ten on the water."  It is especially exciting to watch the graceful birds come in when there's a brisk west wind.  Since ducks almost always land into the wind, they set their wings and come in over the house.  To hear the air rush through their pinion feathers is truly thrilling.

The ducks usually reach peak numbers during the third week in November.  After the first significant snow and cold snap, they depart.  Where do they go?  According to John Latecki, a state game protector, most of the band returns from ducks banded in the Killbuck Wildlife Area have been from Arkansas.  So apparently many of the ducks spend the winter months along the lower Mississippi River and in the surrounding wetlands. I'm reminded of the words written by William Cullen Bryant in his poem "To A Waterfowl":

Thou'rt gone; the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form;  yet on my heart

Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,

And shall not soon depart.

He who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone

Will lead my steps aright.

Toward the end of October, with the corn harvest in, we have time to walk in the woods, replenish the woodpile, and reflect on the summer's toils and sweat.  There's time, too, for giving thanks to the Provider of all things for another bounteous year.

Amish Peace contest winners

Thanks to all who participated in the Amish Peace book giveaway contest.  The contest got a nice response and I hope that if you are not a winner this time, that you'll check out the book anyway.  

So, with no further ado, the winner of contest 1 is Jennifer H (congrats!), and contest 2--Robin Borchers (congrats to you too!).  Your copies of Amish Peace should reach you in the next few days.  Hope you enjoy it!

Again, thanks to all for participating, and if you didn't win this time, expect to see more giveaway contests of interesting books in future, here on the blog.

Amish scooters

Lined up in a bicycle rack in front of a barn at an Amish farm is a row of scooters in various sizes and colors--red, blue, and green.  Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Simon Bontrager went looking for his five-year-old son, Reuben, finding him high up in a treehouse perched over a stream.  Simon cupped his mouth to holler up the tree, "Hey, Rube! Come on down.  We gotta make a run to the village store for Mom.  She's missing an ingredient for her dessert."

Reuben popped his head over the edge of the tree house and peered down at his father.  "What for?" he asked.

"Cinnamon."

Reuben's eyes went wide. "Apfelschnitz?"

Simon nodded, grinning as his son scrambled down the tree as agile as a monkey.  Simon unbuckled his leather work belt, full of tools, and hung it on a hook in the barn.  Reuben hurred to pull his father's large red scooter from the rack.  Simon grabbed the handle and held it steady as Reuben stepped up on the narrow platform.  Simon hopped on and pushed off with one leg, and the two of them practically flew down the hill to the store.

..."Our fathers and forefathers thought the bicycles were too modern," explained Simon.  "They knew it would be too easy to get too far from home."...  (from Amish Peace)

A note on the Amish Peace book giveaway contest:  there's been a spike in subscribers, but the number of entry emails is comparatively low-so just to remind, if you wish to be included, you need to send an email in to amishamerica@gmail.com letting me know you have entered-otherwise I'll have no way of knowing. 

If you haven't entered yet, and are interested in doing so, let me encourage you because it's a winnable contest.  It ends tomorrow (Tuesday) at midnight Pacific Time. 

And the same goes for anyone considering the bonus, contest 2 (for submitting the highest number of new subscribers).  I won't reveal specifics, but if you have any one else in mind that enjoys reading about the Amish, this one is very, very winnable.   For full contest rules, click here. 

Amish Peace book giveaway for Amish America subscribers

Revell has kindly provided me with a couple of extra copies of Suzanne Woods Fisher's Amish Peace.  I'd love to share them, so I've come up with two simple and easy contests for Amish America subscribers.

CONTEST 1:

Step 1: not a subscriber?  It's easy-just input your data by either clicking the feedreader orange button at the top right of the blog, or using the email subscription box below it. 

Subscribing is free, and simply means that you'll be sent a notification when new posts appear on Amish America-nothing more than that, but will let you keep informed when new posts go up.

Step 2: Get one friend who enjoys reading about the Amish to subscribe to Amish America as well, then send me an email saying that you did so to the contest email account, amishamerica@gmail.com.  

This can be that cousin from Ohio, your spouse who always reads the posts over your shoulder, work buddy, one of the kids at college, etc.  Honor system, you just need to say you've done it, and you're entered. 

And that's it!  The winner will be selected randomly from the submissions, and your book will be mailed out asap. 

CONTEST 2: a bonus chance to win

Step 1: see Step 1 above.

Step 2: Same as Step 2 above, except this is a numbers contest-the reader who signs up the most new subscribers wins.  Send in your total figure to amishamerica@gmail.com.  Sending in more than one subscriber automatically enters you in both contests.

Again, this can be family, Facebook friends, anyone that you think may have an interest in reading about the Amish.  Just ask them to subscribe, confirm they did so, and email the total number-honor system again-and the winner's copy of Amish Peace is in the mail, postage paid.  

The giveaway contest begins today, Tuesday October 6th, and will run for one week, until the end of the day Pacific time, Tuesday October 13th. 

Amish Peace is a really enjoyable read, and this is a pretty easy shot at a free book.  Here's another excerpt:

Norman Erb, an Old Order Amish bishop, is a bear of a man with a thundering voice, sparkling black eyes, a grey-flecked beard, and rather longish hair for an Amish man.  The image of Moses springs to mind: perched on the top of Mount Sinai, staff in one hand, stone tablets in another. 

Like Moses, Norman often feels the need to remind his church members to take God's commandments seriously.  Norman is particularly sensitive to careless words getting tossed around.  "Folks don't take their words seriously enough," Norman explains, leaning back in his chair.  "Book of Proverbs says, 'In the multitude of words there wanteth not a sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.'"  Wagging a finger in the air for emphasis, he adds, "Words are serious things!"

Norman likes to use stories to make an impact on church members.  One of his favorites, he says, is to hit people with this old yarn:

A deacon had to make a visit to a woman in his district who was known for her gossip.  So he handed her a bag of feathers and told her to drop a few on the kitchen door of everyone in our church.  So she did.  Then she brought back the empty bag and handed it to the deacon.  The deacon told her, "Now go and get all the feathers collected again."

"What?  How can I possibly do that?" she asked.  "The wind has blown those feathers every which way!"

"That's very true," the deacon said.  "And the very same thing has happened with your words."...

Seeking the Amish-for the wrong reasons

Outsiders sometimes express a desire to join the Amish.  As an Amish authority explains in Richard Stevick's Growing up Amish: The Teenage Years, seekers often come with misguided notions:

"When seekers from the outside come to us wanting to be Amish," explained a bishop, "they are often attracted for the wrong reasons.  They could have fallen in love with one of our Youngie.  Or they may have fallen in love with what they think is a simpler way of life.  What they fail to realize is that our faith in Christ is at the center.  Horses, buggies, and kerosene lanterns will quickly grow stale without the faith foundation."

Ask an Amishman

Okay, we're going to roll this one out on a trial basis.  But who knows, could be interesting.

I frequently get Amish-related questions in my email inbox.  I do my best to answer but sometimes come up short.

So:  if you have an Amish-related question you'd like answered, and would prefer a response from an actual Amish person rather than hearing me yap on about it, send it on in.  You'll find the email link in the upper left-hand corner of the blog or under the 'about' link.  

No guarantees on getting an answer, but the best ones I'll pass along to 'Mr. X', our Lancaster County Amish correspondent, and if he can work it into his very busy schedule (these days he's working harder than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest), we'll try to get responses straight from the Amishman's mouth right here on the blog.

To kick it off, here's one that came in the other day:

Do you know whether the Amish read or have any views on the Amish novels by Beverly Lewis or Wanda Brunstetter? I asked a teen girl last trip and I don't think she was familiar with them, yet they are sold throughout the area at shops where Amish work. Those authors have probably done more to expose the general population to the Amish lifestyle than anything I can think of.

And the response, straight outta LanCo:

                                                                    

"There is a small percentage of Amish readers that read the Beverly and Wanda books, mostly young females.  For the most part they are taken for exactly what they are--storybook novels.  Therefore most Amish people really don’t have any time to read them, let alone ponder their meaning.  More popular with the Old Order Amish and Mennonites are the Carrie Bender books, which is a pseudonym for a daughter of an O.O. Mennonite bishop.  Also the Buggy Spoke series, written by an Amish woman named Byler from Central Pa.  I personally have not read any of these books but have sisters and nieces that do."

I have to admit that I have little experience with Amish-themed fiction.  Marta Perry was kind enough to send me a couple of her Amish romance-suspense novels last fall, even despite the fact that as a 30-year old single male, I'm probably not the ideal demographic for the genre.

With all the research and writing work that has been going into my own two books, I have not had a chance to finish them, but I did find the few chapters I read entertaining. 

Interest in Amish-themed fiction seems to be booming (like interest in most things Amish these days).  Besides the perennially popular Wanda and Beverly, other authors have made the scene as the subcategory has grown.  Beth Wiseman, for example, has sold 40,000 copies of her debut novel Plain Perfect since last September.  

Whoops, this was supposed to be 'Ask an Amishman', and looks like I'm yapping again.  Anyway, thanks to our inquisitive reader and to our AAP (Anonymous Amish Person), and hope we'll be getting some interesting questions.  If you can get them past me I'm pretty confident this is no holds barred, so feel free to get into cultural, spiritual, pop, or whatever topics you're curious about.    

Ah yes, it's not required, but have a glance here if you want to avoid asking something that's already been covered, or maybe to inspire an idea. 

Amish business book

Kevin over at the informative and fun Amish Cook blog has beaten me to the punch here, but I thought I'd bring to your attention an article in the New York Times on Amish business. 

It's a pretty meat-and-potatoes look at Amish entrepreneurship but nice to see in a high-profile spot.  Professor Kraybill contributes here, pointing out that in some settlements high majorities--even 90%--of households make a living off the farm.

And of course a link to an Amish biz piece means it's time for a shameless pre-plug (will try to keep these to a minimum, scout's honor):  I continue to work feverishly on the new book tentatively entitled Simple Success:  How the Amish Do Business. 

Tis slated to be published by Jossey-Bass, who did the recent Amish Grace book among other nice business and religious titles, in Spring 2010. 

In the book, around 60 Amish entrepreneurs offer insights on running a business with an eye to the big picture as much as the bottom line.  Practical ideas plus guiding small-business principles, straight from the horse's mouth.

Am very much looking forward to getting it done and plan to spend my upcoming February stay in Lancaster as well as this summer putting the wraps on it. 

Ammon Aurand's Little Known Facts about the Amish and the Mennonites

Any work that discusses bundling in 'the good old-fashioned way' has got to be a heady read.

And so it goes with Little Known Facts About the Amish and the Mennonites, a tourist booklet first printed in 1938.

The seeds of Amish tourism were planted in the early 20th century, with the enterprise really getting a proper start in the 1930's and 40's.  Amish-themed postcards, novels, and magazine articles all helped to spur along what has become a full-fledged industry today.

Early Amish tourism depended on a body of knowledge that mixed fact and falsehood.  With the goal of enticing visitors to Amish-inhabited areas, particularly Lancaster County, writers perpetuated a number of well-know myths such as the 'blue gate' legend while describing other aspects of Amish and Pennsylvania German life more or less accurately .  

Ammon Monroe Aurand Jr.'s 1938 pamphlet Little Known Facts about the Amish and the Mennonites was among the first of a pile of literature on the Amish that helped fuel the boom.

Aurand himself was a Harrisburg bookstore owner who produced a large body of spiced-up folklore on Amish and Pennsylvania German life during the 30's and 40's. 

Looking at Little Known Facts today, one finds a number of quite amusing 'facts' as well as a quaint, playful style of writing that can be downright entertaining.  Which I suppose is more the point--entertainment--when cranking up a fledgling tourist industry, than necessarily nailing down a sense of sociological or historical accuracy.  Visitors come to be amused, and Aurand provided it with his pamphlet.

                                                                                                                                                 

A sampler of Little Known Facts

Throughout the booklet Aurand enlightens readers with a cornucopia of quirky, homespun views on the Amish and Mennonites, sharing matter-of-fact insights such as:

Jews, Catholics and the plain people alike prefer not to let any other faith get a hold on their off-spring until after they have lived through formative years.

and:

These people take their time with nearly all things--they rarely show impatience, except that they are impatient to be always at work--at doing something. They know that life may reproduce itself in nine months, and that time goes on. Their place and mission on earth is a preparatory one, and they must be "about the Father's business," whatever it be, to be in a happy mood.

He also makes a few observations on appearance and clothing: 

The men's hats are a distinctive, broad, stiff-brimmed type--one looking just like another--dust and all!

It is the usual thing for Old Order Amish boys to wear their hats nearly all of the time, except while in school. At recess they cannot be persuaded to doff them while at play.

Aurand on buttons--I have to admit I'd never heard this reasoning before:

If one could get into a friendly and understanding discourse with men of this faith, as has been done occasionally, one would learn that buttons on the backs of coats, or on coat sleeves, were actually places for the "devil to hang 'somesing' on." Buttons are made from the bones of animals, and this is one reason for their declining to use them.

On the Amish and hair:

There is only one style of wearing the hair among the Amish women, and that bears very little improvement. It is parted exactly in the middle and combed smoothly down toward the temples, where two plaits are started, carried around and gathered into a knot just under the edge of the white mull cap above the nape of the neck.

One or two Amish countrymen, when seen in Lewistown, Lancaster or Ephrata, create little excitement, but when fifty or a hundred get together in a world outside their own, that's news.

                                                                                                                                                     

On Big Valley and Little Children

Aurand looks outside of Lancaster County to describe the Amish of Kishacoquillas ("Big") Valley, making a point along the way on the oral nature of the Ordnung:

The Amish of the Mifflin County Area are severely plain in "back-sections;" often without any modern conveniences; no blinds at windows or doors; no rugs; simple wearing apparel, home-made, or perhaps ordered through a specialist in the making thereof.

An informant says that these people have no pictures on the walls--only mottoes and gaudy calendars.

A woman of mature years, having a new home erected, on entering it one day discovered modern plumbing devices had been installed, and she forthwith ordered removal of same.

They eat enough, and of good variety, and their complexions appear quite superior to the "healthy appearances" obtained from boxes and jars which may be purchased in drug stores.

Church rules are not a matter of printed or written record, but of oral delivery or tradition among the Old Amish. It is not impossible that this condition may lead to unpleasant and unlooked-for results some day, if perhaps such has not been the case in more instances than have generally come to light.

Aurand also perhaps reveals more about his own pretensions (or those of the time) than of the Amish themselves in a number of passages, notably:

Children Sometimes Backward.--Conditions among these people sometimes really require sympathy, especially among the young who sometimes hide themselves from the sight of "English" persons, making use of corn-shocks, or whatever they find handy.

This practice is not unusual among children of some other persuasions, where the parents have too much stunted their natural mental developments; but then, too, we do know it to be a too-common-practice of our "English" people to ridicule people of other origins.

Aurand goes on to detail farming practices, church services, and of course, bundling.  In sum, though written perhaps more to stimulate than educate, Little Known Facts is interesting in that it reveals the burgeoning fascination of the time for these 'peculiar people'.  It also had the effect of galvanizing interest among the public for the Amish and Mennonites, and ultimately did its part to help lay the tracks for today's thriving Amish-themed tourist industry.

Further Reading:  See David Weaver-Zercher's The Amish in the American Imagination.

Part Two: An Amish America Q-and-A with a Lancaster County Amishman

In this second part of an interview with an anonymous Lancaster County Amishman, we look at the phenomenon of outsiders joining the Amish, using the Amish name to market and sell products to the public, Amish participation in the recent presidential election, and the meaning and purpose of shunning. 

(And if you missed the first part, here it is: An Amish America Q-and-A with a Lancaster County Amishman, Part 1)

A lot of people express admiration for what they perceive as the 'Amish' way of life. Some even express a desire to join. Yet in reality, outsiders rarely convert to the faith. Why do you think this is the case? And if the Amish feel that Amish living is the best way to pursue the Christian ideal, why do you think the Amish aren't more aggressive in pursuing outsiders with the goal of sharing the community?

The first thing is obviously the huge cultural gap and the differing worldviews.

The next is I am not so sure at all that the Amish feel that Amish living is the best way to pursue the Christian ideal.  Or certainly not in a comparative sense or in a rational weighing of pros and cons.  If the Amish feel it is the best way it is not meant in a superior way meaning all the rest are inferior but rather it is perhaps the best way for the Amish themselves since the way of life is seen as a calling or a gift from above.  It is not a bed of roses but rather entails sacrifice.

As to why the Amish are not more aggressive in pursuing outsiders I think there are two primary reasons.
The first is the martyr heritage which has caused Amish to be somewhat reserved and shy and suspicious of outsiders.

The second is somewhat ironically the nearly complete loss of the one true church concept that was prevalent in Anabaptism in Europe.

The Amish today know that salvation means believing in the Lord and following his commandments.

If we love the Lord and accept Him as our Savior we will have eternal life, whatever denomination we are.

Let me just say this yet.  If the whole world were Amish it would be a boring and bland place indeed.

However if the Amish were gone from the landscape a solid and I would like to think vibrant color would be missing from the American mosaic.

Furthermore, sharing the community can be achieved by means other than converting to the Amish.  I was inspired by the words in Pauline Stevick’s book called Beyond the Plain and Simple.

It was written as follows:

We realize that not everyone is cut out to be one of the Plain People.
Many have not the opportunity.
But here is a challenge.

If you admire our faith—strengthen yours.

If you admire our sense of commitment—deepen yours.

If you admire our community spirit—build one.

If you admire the simple life—cut back.

If you admire quality merchandise or land stewardship, then make quality.
 
If you admire deep character and enduring values—live them.

This I think captures the true essence of evangelism which is spreading the Good News.  It also distinguishes from proselytization which is merely winning converts.

In other words, if people generally bloom where they are planted, then it would be a much better world than if everybody would be Amish.

And also, spiritually at least, the Amish simply do not have that marketing mentality or that urge to promote what they have to offer, in short to sell themselves, that seems to be so prevalent in American society including some churches.


Recently on the blog and in a public lecture at Elizabethtown, I brought up the issue of using the Amish name in order to sell products. The main issue that emerges seems to be the question of what 'Amish' actually means—is it a faith/religion, or a culture? Some entrepreneurs justify using 'Amish' to sell product on the basis of it being a cultural name and nothing more—Christianity being the religion. Yet others are adamantly against it, comparing it to selling one's birthright for a bowl of pottage. As a business owner and member of the community, what's your take on that issue?

Indeed the name Amish does get used to sell product.  And it is something I am not really comfortable with.  If I do the naming I would be more prone to call the product a Lancaster County product or Pennsylvania Dutch product or a product of the Plain People.

However this is an issue where balance and avoidance of extremes is very much in order.  For instance, at our farmer’s market deli, I do sell Amish Butter Cheese and Amish Roll Butter, etc.  And I really don’t have a serious issue with that provided the product really is an Amish product.

Truth in advertising is of the essence.  As to whether Amish means a culture or a faith/religion, I would say as a culture it is different from typical Modern Culture but as a faith it is essentially Christian with the same basic tenets as any Evangelical, Fundamentalist, or Biblical Church.

Such as belief in the Trinity, The Apostles’ Creed, The Bible as the divine Word of God, Salvation by Grace through Faith and the Crucifixion as atonement for humankind’s sin.  However for the Amish, culture and religion are intertwined to the point where it is hard to separate the two.  Indeed it is a faith culture.  So if we hang on to our beards, buggies, and bonnets only so we can sell trinkets, we will indeed have sold our souls and our birthright for a bowl of porridge. 

Or to the other extreme, if we sacralize the name Amish to the point that we can hardly use it at all we will have missed the point, which is, our lives are to be a light to the world and a service to Christ.

As it was a rather unusual election season in terms of length and level of coverage, many Americans reached the point of overdosing on politics. How much of that gets through to the Amish community, and how do members of the community find out about political issues? Was there are lot of interest in the election? Bush visited Ohio and PA in '04 in search of votes from the Amish community. How much interest did the Amish have in voting this time around, and how many in your community do you think voted?

It is a subject that gets talked about quite a bit depending on the personalities of those in the discussion.  Members find out about political issues through contacts with outsiders and newspapers and news magazines primarily.  There was kind of a resignation about the current election I think mostly because most Amish are “armchair Republicans” and it was obvious that the Bush administration fell short.

There was a lot less interest in voting this time around mostly because of the war.  I would venture to guess about 25% of those who voted  in ’04 voted this year which translates into a lot less than 10%, although I have no statistics to back this up.  It would be interesting to know myself.  I also don’t think Sarah Palin had much effect on Amish opinion.

I think one thing that gets a lot of attention in the media is the idea of shunning. Some paint it in the worst tones possible. Others recognize it as a Biblically-rooted social device that helps preserve the church. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, social shunning in the Amish church is done not in a spirit of vengeance, but in a spirit of love and out of the hope of getting an erring member to change his/her ways.

First of all I believe the name "shunning" itself is a misnomer.  Shunning makes you think of avoidance or ostracizing when in reality only some forms of interaction are restrained.  “Shunning” as practiced today could perhaps be best described as a ritualistic reminder of having gone astray and having broken your commitment to the Lord Jesus and the body of believers you made your commitment and baptismal promise with. Notice I said 'with' as opposed to 'to'.

It is also a statement that the rest of the flock has no intention of leaving the fold and that it takes its commitment to the Lord and each other seriously.  But most of all it is done so the soul of the deviant may be saved on the day of Judgement.

It is based on a literal and biblical interpretation of the commandments of Christ and the apostles—Matthew 18;  1 Corinthians 5;  2 Thessalonians 3:14;  Titus 3:10;  1 Timothy 5;  2 Corinthians 10:8;  2 Corinthians 13:10;  John 15.  Therefore the feeling is, a mandate for filial discipline amongst a body of believers is very plainly mandated in the Scripture.  With that being said, shunning is usually done with great reluctance and only once there is nothing else left to do.  Upon repentance the relationship is restored and what is in the past stays in the past.

Shunning is never pleasant business both for the church and for the shunned individual and it would be easiest and most convenient to not practice it.

But feeling bound to the Scripture and knowing of no better way other than to try and use Christian Discretion and moderation, the practice continues in varying degrees.  Some almost totally ignore it, especially in private settings, while others are more rigorous.  It is important to remember there is no sacramental value on the ban to the point a banned one is considered as going to hell.  The Lord is still the final judge.

I like what John Ruth had to say about the application of Matt 18 which is the model of church discipline.  When Jesus spoke about the one who rejects the counsel of the ecclesia
(church community) he is to be unto us as a heathen and tax-collector.

Before we take this to mean that we are to despise such persons, we should remember that Jesus himself socialized with tax-collectors and had friendly relations with Non-Jews.  So what he means in his statement regarding the person who rejects the counsel of the circle is that he may be told, ‘We’ll be neighbors, and we’ll treat you as fairly as anybody but we won’t call it church’. 

In effect, you are not in the church if you don’t listen to it.  Just as, if as batter you want to call balls and strikes yourself, it’s not baseball.  What ‘shunning’ is about is how to relate to someone who on bended knee has promised in the presence of the covenanted circle to obey Christ and the Church and then leaves that particular covenant.  End Quote.

Yet many I think miss that point and only see it as a cruel and unhappy practice. Could you maybe give a little insight on what shunning is like for the individual and for the church/community? In your experience, does it 'work'? What's it like for the individual and for the church when the erring member actually does return to the flock?

One reason “shunning” appears so harsh to outsiders is that this American Me Generation and Taking Care of Number One Society has lost a concept of being keepers of their brothers and the idea of communal and church community discipline is not appealing.

Usually there were certain immoral things you did not do in a neighborhood and you also kept your promises and commitments.  Now it is nobody else’s business, and if a promise or commitment becomes a burden you discard it.  Americans do not like to be told about right and wrong especially not by some church.

Amish on the other hand still have some idea of being their brother’s keeper and simply cannot accept from themselves a do as you please mentality.  With all that being said, however, the stocks and pillory, the Ducking Chair and the Whipping Post of Puritan New England are definitely better off gone from society.

Amish church discipline was never taken to those extremes, which I think is a big factor in why the idea of being your brother’s keeper still carries weight by the Amish.

As to whether it “works”, not perfectly.  But it does cause you to thoroughly examine your reasons for leaving. 

You think twice before leaving for superficial reasons.  And I personally do not have much experience with the issue.  Only recently has the company I am employed by hired some that are in the ban.

I have no close relatives in the ban and personally know less than 50 people that are in such circumstances.  Only once in my 43 years has anyone in our district decided to leave for good.  And as to what it is like when somebody does return.  The parable of the lost sheep in Matt 18 is very descriptive.  Many tears are shed and there is a feeling of restoration. 

I did however twice experience the ban before I was married.  In both instances I voluntarily went to speak with the bishop and agreed to accept the counsel of the Church.  I can attest that an outward expression of an inner repentance goes a long way towards strengthening convictions and helps you to do better.  Both times I was admonished that the inner repentance is of greater importance and, without which, the outward expression does no good.

I became much closer to Christ and his church through those experiences.

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